Because of the grotesquely swollen place the presidency now occupies in the United States’ governance and consciousness, we are never not preoccupied with presidential campaigning. The Constitution’s framers would be appalled.

The nation reveres the framers, but long ago abandoned the presidential selection process they considered so important that they made it one of the four national institutions created by the Constitution. Hence the significance of the Republican National Committee’s suggested reforms for the 2016 process.

University of Virginia professor James Ceaser says the four national institutions the framers created were Congress, the Supreme Court, the presidency and the presidential selection system based on the Electoral College. The fourth, wherein the selection of candidates and election of a president by each state’s electors occurred simultaneously — they were the same deliberation — soon disappeared.

Since the emergence of the party system in the 1790s, and the ratification of the 12th Amendment in 1804, candidates have been selected by several different processes. First by their party’s congressional caucuses; then by nominating conventions controlled by the party’s organizations; then by conventions influenced by primaries and caucuses (Vice President Hubert Humphrey won the 1968 Democratic nomination without entering any primaries); and, since 1972, entirely by primaries and caucuses that have made conventions nullities.

Responding to the fact that the 2012 nomination process was ruinously protracted, the RNC suggests reforms that might, like many improvements, make matters worse.

Now, responding to the fact that the 2012 nomination process was ruinously protracted, the RNC suggests reforms that might, like many improvements, make matters worse. This is because of a prior “improvement” — campaign finance reform.

The RNC suggests a shorter nominating season with fewer debates — none earlier than Sept. 1, 2015. The 20 debates in 2012 were actually one fewer than in 2008. But in 2000 there were 13. In 1988, seven. In 1980, just six. The May 5, 2011, debate was eight months before the Iowa caucuses. In 1980, the first was 16 days before Iowa voted.

The RNC report does not challenge the role of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada in beginning the delegate selection. Perhaps it is not worth the trouble to challenge these states’ anachronistic entitlement; like all entitlements, it is fiercely defended by the beneficiaries. But a reform process that begins by accepting this crucial component of the status quo substantially limits possibilities. By the time these four states have had their say, the field of candidates often has been considerably — and excessively — winnowed, and the outcome is, if not settled, given a trajectory that is difficult to alter.

Supporters of Sen. Rand Paul, or of any other candidate thoroughly unenthralled by the policies and procedures that have resulted in Republicans losing the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections, are understandably suspicious of any proposed changes that might tilt the nomination process against the least known and less-lavishly funded candidates. They are especially apt to squint disapprovingly at the RNC’s suggestion of regional primaries.

The party, however, must balance two imperatives. One is the need to enlarge the number of voters participating in the process. Hence the suggestion that primaries should replace all nominating caucuses and conventions — events where ideologically motivated activists and insurgent candidates can more easily predominate.

The party’s second imperative is to preserve opportunities for less-known and financially challenged candidates to break through. This is where government restrictions on campaign contributions restrict the range of candidates from which voters can choose.

Existing restrictions on large contributions to candidates are commonly called “post-Watergate” reforms. This is more accurate as a matter of chronology than causality. Democrats began advocating contribution as well as spending limits years before Watergate concluded in 1974. They were appalled that large contributions from a few wealthy liberals made possible Eugene McCarthy’s 1968 anti-war insurgency against President Lyndon Johnson, and propelled George McGovern’s doomed nomination in 1972.

Suppose political contributing were deregulated, which would deregulate political speech, the dissemination of which is the principal use of campaign contributions. This would make it easier to design a more compressed nominating process, with a reduced role for the first four states, which also would allow marginal candidates a financial opportunity to fight their way into the top tier of candidates.

Anyway, tinkering with the party’s political process is no substitute for improving the party’s political substance. No nominating process featuring an array of candidates as weak and eccentric as the Republicans’ 2012 field would have produced a much better result. So the party must begin whatever 2016 process it devises by fielding better candidates, which should not be so difficult.

Just point out to them that, according to fivethirtyeight.com, a U.S. election forecasting site, Paul Ryan would be the most conservative vice-president in more than a century.

More right wing than Dick Cheney.

More conservative than William E. Miller, who was Barry Goldwater’s running mate.

Way more conservative than Richard Nixon (who was a wide-eyed leftie in comparison)

He would be more conservative, in fact, than the most liberal Democratic nominee was liberal. On 538’s ideology index, Ryan scores .562, against Cheney’s .531. The most leftwing Democratic candidate, who was on FDR’s first ticket in 1932, only scores .482. The word “extreme” would appear to have been invented for Ryan, if not for the fact people who know him — even opponents — say he’s a genuinely nice guy who just happens to believe people are better off fending for themselves.

He would also be a rarity in another sense: according to 538’s Nate Silver: “The last time an ordinary member of the House was elected vice president, and the last Republican, was more than 100 years ago: in 1908, when William Howard Taft and James S. Sherman, a New York congressman, were chosen by voters. (Coincidentally, that fall was also the last time that the Chicago Cubs won the World Series.)”

The Chicago Cubs? Aren’t they Hillary Clinton’s favourite team? Not a very promising scenario, you have to admit.

While Ryan’s famous budget plan is well-known, it doesn’t poll well outside Tea Party true believers. Mr. Silver, whose calculations give Barack Obama 301 electoral votes (31 more than he needs) and a 71% chance of winning at this stage in the race, argues that Romney chose Ryan not for tactical reasons (he’s from a small state with few electoral votes) but to shake up a race in which he was trailing.

In a race that lacks compelling story lines and fresh faces, he may become the focal point. It seems entirely plausible that his rallies will draw larger crowds than either of the presidential candidates themselves, and that stories about him will draw more Internet traffic, especially in the early days of his candidacy. He should also be a fund-raising magnet — for Mr. Romney, and probably also for Mr. Obama.

…Taking risks like these is not what you do if you think you have a winning hand already. But Mr. Romney, the turnaround artist, decided that he needed to turn around his own campaign.

Mitt Romney’s choice of Paul Ryan as his vice-presidential running mate turned what has been a rather dull and plodding election campaign into one of the most intriguing contests in memory. The November election will be ground-breaking on several fronts:

1. Voters for once will get exactly what they claim to want, a choice between two candidates with sharply differing agendas and two clear alternatives.

2. Ryan’s stark financial proposals means U.S. voters will finally be confronted with the courage of their convictions: do they really want the smaller, less intrusive government so many of them claim to? Are they willing to accept the price it would involve?

3. Similarly, voters will be tested for the depth of their faith in lower taxes as the key to national recovery. Barack Obama will raise taxes. Romney/Ryan will cut them. Either way the impact will be dramatic.

The extent of the revolution Ryan represents shouldn’t be underestimated. So mammoth is the change he’s proposing that Romney almost immediately began distancing himself from it, insisting he would set his own financial plan as president, rather than simply adopt the detailed program already set forth by his running mate. It’s a rather odd way to run a campaign and shouldn’t be taken seriously: Paul Ryan is known for only one thing, and that’s his blueprint to remake the American economy through sweeping tax and spending cuts. He wouldn’t be on the ticket for any other reason. If Romney were to be elected and not adopt the Ryan plan, he’d have betrayed the single most compelling reason anyone has to vote for him.

So if you ignore Romney’s disclaimer, voters have two very different visions to choose from. Barack Obama will stand by his faith in big government and the net benefit of large-scale spending programs, even if he has to borrow the money. His economic policy will consist of hoping conditions improve enough to produce the growth that will eventually reduce the size of the deficit, and someday, perhaps, the gargantuan national debt. There will be no radical changes to the status quo, and the long-term dangers hanging over the economy will continue to hang there undisturbed. This generation will do nothing to alleviate the appalling balance sheet it’s leaving behind as its legacy. Romney/Ryan, on the other hand, will raze the government and erect a new version on its ashes. The biggest and most popular spending programs – medicare, medicaid, social security – will shrink dramatically. They will cost less, but also deliver less. People will be left to their own devices. Americans will be urged to accept more responsibility for their own well-being. Families will be expected to care for their members with less reliance on the state.

AP Photo/Jeffrey PhelpsStraight to the point: Mitt Romney, left, and his vice presidential running mate Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis, point to people in the crowd at a welcome home rally on Sunday

Is that what people want? The American ethos has long been one of people devoted to making their own decisions free from meddling and intrusive government. It was the basis of the original Revolution and the country’s growth as a world power. But each new spending program has made reversion to the original dream a costlier prospect. Obamacare, the universal healthcare program introduced on a mountain of borrowed money, may have been the tipping point. Once it is firmly in place, the chances of reversing course appear all but insurmountable.

So now’s the opportunity to make the decision. Big government, or a reversion to self-reliance accompanied by cuts in programs on which millions have come to rely? The decision may define just how different the U.S. continues to be from all the other western powers that long ago threw in their lot with the big-spending nanny state. In most countries the choice is between big government and bigger government – even a professedly conservative government like Stephen Harper’s has talked about smaller government, while wracking up year after year of record spending.

It could also be a moment of truth for the enduring conservative faith in tax cuts as a remedy for whatever ails you. Ever since Ronald Reagan slashed taxes and produced a vibrant economy in their place, the demand for even greater cuts has become so predictable among “real” conservatives that many no longer seem to feel they need any other ideas at all. But years of “cuts” has the U.S. stuck in the worst recession in 80 years, and emboldened left-wingers are now openly advocating hikes. France‘s new president is committed to a big increase and Germany is hinting at increases as well. Years of experience with tax cuts has tarnished their allure: the “wealth gap” has widened dramatically in favour of the rich; study after study has shown the middle class in long-term decline; and 50% of the country has no reason to oppose federal taxes in any case, since they don’t pay any.

Paul Ryan’s prescription for the economy is big on more tax cuts, once again promising they will clear the obstructions from the arteries of the U.S. economy. Election night in November will offer a crucial opportunity for Americans to demonstrate how many still share that faith.

Before I get to Mitt Romney, let me drive down memory line — which, in my case, comes with its own McDonald’s drive-thru.

At a public event about a decade ago, I was seated next to the President of McDonald’s Canada. When he gave me a business card that could be redeemed for a free Big Mac — it was even shaped like a Big Mac — I think he was shocked at how excited I became. Like tens of millions of North Americans on a limited budget, free fast food is something that I have spent a large part of my life dreaming about.

One of my earliest stints as a working stiff was in the run-up to the Canadian federal election of 1984. As 15-year-olds, my friend Josh and I worked in the basement of Saint-Léon de Westmount Church, typing up address labels for voter cards. (I got six cents for each label, and then another half a penny each for affixing them to the cards.) As a hungry teenager, I calculated my wages according to hamburgers: It took me about 45 minutes to earn enough for a Big Mac. (The church was four blocks from the Atwater Street McDonald’s, then one of the busiest locations in the world, being kitty corner from the Forum).

A year later, I got a job at that very McDonald’s location, making $3.54 an hour (which was then minimum wage for under-18 workers). One of the reasons I took the job was the free meal I got every shift — composed of one sandwich, one fries, and one drink. That fringe benefit — calculated on an hour-by-hour basis — comprised about 20% of my earnings.

A few years later, in college, I had a McDonald’s “student card” — it even had my name on it — that entitled me to a free fries with the purchase of any large sandwich (this was before the era when combo meals were the universal staple of fast food menus). I could calculate to the penny how much I would spend on my daily fix. It was a penny-pinching habit that stayed with me well into my National Post days, when I would organize my Wendy’s orders in such a way as to avoid taxes, and find creative ways to maximize food intake at a constant price (many people still don’t know that you can substitute a chili for a fries in a combo meal).

No, I’m not preening for the job of Post food critic. Rather, I recite all this to make the point that people take the economics of fast food extremely seriously. That’s why even small changes in industry pricing — say, the introduction of a 99-cent value menu, or seasonal specials — can drive massive shifts in consumer demand. For a lot of poor families in the United States, especially, fast food is the only restaurant experience they can afford.

Needless to say, the Romney clan is not one of those families. Which, in itself, is fine: There’s nothing wrong with being an insanely rich plutocrat who doesn’t need to count his pennies when he’s ordering a Baconator. What is problematic is being profoundly out of touch with those who do.

Speaking to a Chicago audience this week, Romney told a story about rifling through a drawer in his childhood home, and finding a card, belonging to his father, entitling him to free McDonald’s hamburgers — for life.

“It said [that] this entitles George W. Romney to a lifetime of a hamburger, a shake and french fries at McDonald’s,” the younger Romney said. “It was signed by the hand of [McDonald’s founder] Ray Kroc. My dad had done a little training lesson or whatever for McDonald’s when there was just a handful of restaurants, and I saw this thing, and was like, ‘This is a gold mine, dad!’ ”

In his remarks, Mitt Romney added that his father used the card often — to get a free hamburger or a filet-o-fish. That shows his dad, a former auto magnate and Michigan governor, had the common touch; and that he didn’t spend all his time eating lobster tails and steak. But the very existence of that card, and Romney’s casual discussion of it, betrays a shocking tone-deafness — not unlike his appearance at Daytona’s International Speedway in February, when he tried to present himself as an ordinary NASCAR-loving fan by remarking, “I have some great friends who are NASCAR team owners.”

The 15-year-old in me positively shivers at the idea of owning such a card — for a teenager, the culinary equivalent of an Aladdin’s Lamp with unlimited wishes. Tens of millions of American families, for whom fast food ranks as a major line item on their monthly budget, must see that magic card in the same light. That Romney should mention its existence as part of a casual childhood anecdote seems to capture, in a chicken-nugget-sized microcosm, the gulf that separates his economic baseline from that of ordinary Americans.

It also says something about American plutocracy itself. Republicans such as Romney dismiss as “class warfare” any suggestion that the rich and poor are governed by different rules — even as studies show that class mobility in the United States is now lower than in the “socialist” nations of Canada or Scandinavia.

Yet what better symbol is there of this two-tiered system that one in which one of the richest men in America gets his Big Macs for free.

CINCINNATI — President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies aren’t waiting for Republican Mitt Romney to reveal his vice presidential choice. They’re already trying to scuff up those considered by political insiders to be most likely to join the GOP ticket.

The president’s campaign started swinging at the potential Republican running mates this week while urging home-state Democrats to chime in about the shortcomings that – as emails to donors and supporters put it – “Americans need to know.” The pre-emptive strikes are an effort to define a possible No. 2 in a negative light and reflect a sense that time is precious to sway opinion in a stubbornly close presidential race dashing quickly toward November.

Tim Pawlenty? The former Minnesota governor is a fee-raiser whose record “is painful for the middle-class families who lived under his leadership,” the Obama campaign argues.

Rob Portman? The Ohio senator is “one of the architects of the top-down Bush budget” that the Obama team blames for “crashing our economy.”

Marco Rubio? The rookie Florida senator has “led the way on almost every extreme position Mitt Romney has embraced,” according to the missive that seeks examples of “the good, the bad and ugly” of Rubio.

Chris Christie? There’s “no lack of material to work with” about the pugnacious New Jersey governor.

Those views are far from how Republicans regard the foursome. As many in the GOP see it, Pawlenty is extolled for his blue-collar appeal and budget restraints during eight years as governor; Portman is praised for a vast portfolio of experience and as someone who could help deliver a critical swing state; Rubio is a rising star who could help the GOP attract Hispanic voters; and Christie is willing to take on entrenched interests and big problems no matter whom he offends.

In an interview with Reuters, body language expert Aaron Brehove says Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan — who many conservatives have been championing as of late — is the most comfortable option for Romney, with Christie being a close second.

REUTERS/Daniel Acker/Files Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty speaks during the Iowa straw poll in Ames, Iowa, in this August 13, 2011 file picture. His name is often mentioned to be Mitt Romney's running mate.

But it’s not all negative from the Obama campaign as they had a few suggestions for Romney Thursday.

“We all think Newt Gingrich or Michele Bachmann would be an excellent choice for Mitt Romney to choose,” Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki joked to reporters on Air Force One.

LOCAL DEMOCRATS PILE ON

It’s not just the Obama operation that’s trying to tar the Republicans. Local Democratic officials in contested states aren’t letting visits by the would-be vice presidents go unchecked. In conference calls, they try to draw attention to what they say are the Republicans’ flaws, then quickly deliver biting assessments when one of them campaigns in a battleground state. Independent groups sympathetic to Obama are piling on as well.

American Bridge 21st Century, a Washington-based super PAC, has already dumped a combined 1,651 unflattering pages of so-called opposition research on Pawlenty, Portman and Rubio as well as Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan. The five electronic briefing books, including two released Wednesday, rake over the Republicans’ voting records, proposals, public statements and slipups. The rundowns are so detailed that a politician’s taste for expensive wine is even noted in one of the books.

American Bridge President Rodell Mollineau said the group started months ago compiling the information – much of it’s drawn from media reports, public records and speeches – and decided against waiting until the vice presidential pick becomes known to trickle out the juiciest bits.

“You don’t want to start too soon, but you don’t want to be in a situation where there’s 80 days until the election and everything is being jammed in so much that things are being lost,” Mollineau said.

The findings are likely to buttress criticism from top Democrats, feed into TV ads and show up as part of fall campaign mailings. The group also has video trackers in key areas eager to capture possible miscues or shifting positions.

The Obama campaign dispatches haven’t gone unnoticed on the right.

Natalie Baur, a confidante of Portman, went so far as to issue a rebuttal to fellow supporters defending Portman as a problem-solver. The message called the Obama push for feedback on him a “desperate” move and a sign that “the president’s friends are more interested in playing political games than working together to create jobs, fix the economy and pass a budget.”

Romney has said little about whom he favors or when the choice will come, although it’s expected well before the Aug. 27 start of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla.

So far, Vice President Joe Biden has had the No. 2 space all to himself, which has given the Obama campaign a second high-level voice to tour the country, raise money and hammer their opposition. Obama’s aides deny he has a preference, but admit they’re watching closely for Romney’s decision.

“Any way you cut it, whomever they pick, we’d much rather have Vice President Biden on our side, campaigning across the country, in the debates, out there standing up for the president, than any of the motley crew that Mitt Romney is choosing between,” Obama campaign spokesman Jen Psaki said Wednesday.

Ann Romney, the candidate’s wife who just returned from watching her horse compete at the Olympic Games in London, added to the suspense Thursday with an email telling backers “I can’t wait” to help introduce “the other half of America’s Comeback Team.”

ROMNEY SAYS OBAMA HAS ‘DECLARED WAR ON RELIGION’

The Romney campaign released a new nationwide ad Thursday saying Obama’s health-care policy forces religious institutions to “go against their faith.”

The attack is in reference to the January announcement by the Department of Health and Human Services that virtually all employers must provide free contraception through their health insurance plans.

While churches were excepted, colleges and hospitals associated with religious groups were not.

A February compromise was made to cover women employed by religiously affiliated organizations so that insurance companies would fund their coverage, not their employer.

“No woman’s health should depend on who she is or where she works or how much money she makes,” Obama said in a televised address, announcing the compromise. “As we move to implement this rule, however, we’ve been mindful that there’s another principle at stake here — and that’s the principle of religious liberty.

Can’t wait to find out who Mitt Romney picks as his running mate? (Hint: It won’t be a female governor from Alaska.)NPR reports that you can sign on for a mobile app that will share the news as soon as it’s available.
But you can also suss it out for yourself b y keeping an eye on Wikipedia. In 2008, both Palin and Joe Biden’s Wikipedia pages were mysteriously and repeatedly updated just before their selection was announced. So, by that crireria, who’s the hot favourites this year?

— Ohio Sen. Rob Portman’s Wiki page has been revised 16 times so far today, by someone called “River8009.”
— Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s Wiki page has been revised nine times so far today and 11 times from Aug. 2-6.
— Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s Wiki page has been tweaked four times today.
— Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan’s Wiki page has been edited once today, and 11 times from Aug. 2-6.
— Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s Wiki page hasn’t been edited today, but was revised eight times from Aug. 3-4.
— New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte’s Wiki page has not been touched today. It was last revised on July 28.
— New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s Wiki page hasn’t been revised since July 24.

Romney Hood: Barack Obama’s term for Mitt Romney’s budget plan, which he says would reverse the Robin Hood legend by taking from the middle class in order to provide yet another tax cut for the wealthy.

Banksters: Term for bankers who never seem to suffer from the financial cataclysms they cause everyone else.

The United Church says it has an absolute duty to speak out on the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, just as it had an absolute duty to champion a boycott against Israel while conveniently failing to demand any similar sort of action against Palestinians. If it is indeed a moral duty for the church to engage in whatever political issues it deems as relevant, shouldn’t it just declare itself a poloitical partyt and start running candidates, rather than hiding behind a religious facade?

Something called the Greater Toronto Civic Action Alliance, which only the Toronto Star seems to have heard of, is planning a “campaign to promote a wide-ranging debate on easing gridlock.” As a first step, “the group has put forward a list of prominent business, labour, academic and non-profit leaders who are to ‘champion’ a region-wide conversation about what needs to be done.”
How exciting. A plan to promote a “wide-ranging discussion” on what issues need to be addressed. At last someone in this burg is willing to talk about transit! We’re all tired of the silence that has surrounded this issue for so long, right? David Miller rarely even mentioned transit. Rob Ford has been silent on the issue of streetcars versus subways. But now at last the void will be filled, by retired politicians and academics. Oh, we’re saved.

Germany is moving towards full recognition for same-sex marriage, according to Spiegelonline:

A majority of Germans are in favor of establishing legal parity between civil unions and heterosexual marriage. So too are most of the parties represented in the German parliament. But when it comes to finally granting gay couples the same tax advantages associated with marriage, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and, in particular, its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), have been adamantly opposed.

That, though, may now be changing. On Monday, a group of 13 CDU lawmakers released a statement demanding that the German parliament take the initiative in granting gay couples in a civil union the same joint-filing tax benefits enjoyed by married couples.

And Monday evening, the group received powerful support. German Family Minister Kristina Schröder told the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung that the push comes “at the right time, because in lesbian and gay life partnerships, people take lasting responsibility for one another and thus they live according to conservative values.”

Adding a new attack line to his campaign arsenal, President Barack Obama derided Republican rival Mitt Romney’s tax plan on Monday as Robin Hood in reverse – “Romney Hood ” – saying it essentially would rob ordinary Americans to help the rich.

Obama stepped up his criticism of Romney’s tax proposals at a re-election fundraiser in Connecticut on the same day Romney’s campaign reported that it had outraised the Democratic president by more than $25 million in July.

Reaching back to the Middle Ages, Obama invoked the legendary outlaw of old in an attempt to sharpen the contrast with Romney, whom the president said would cut taxes for the richest 2% of Americans and pay for it by raising taxes on the middle class.

“It’s like Robin Hood in reverse. It’s Romney Hood,” he said, drawing loud applause and laughs from a crowd of about 500 who paid $500 a head to attend the event in a hotel ballroom.

It was the latest twist in the Obama campaign’s effort to paint Obama as a champion of the middle class while casting Romney, one of the richest men to ever run for the White House, as intent on protecting the fortunes of wealthier Americans.

Obama sought to back his accusation by citing a report last week by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center that found that Romney’s proposal to slash income taxes by 20% across the board would boost income for the wealthiest taxpayers while reducing it for lesser earners.

The study calculated that Romney’s tax cuts would boost after-tax income by an average of 4.1 percent for those earning more than $1 million a year, while reducing by an average of 1.2 percent the after-tax income of individuals earning less than $200,000.

Romney campaign spokesman Ryan Williams, responding to Obama’s latest accusations, said the president was the only one in the race who would raise Americans’ taxes.

“While he’s used taxpayer dollars to grow government and reward his donors, middle-class Americans have seen fewer jobs, lower incomes, and less hope for the future,” he said.

When Obama later headlined a glitzier fundraiser with a few dozen well-heeled donors at the Westport waterfront home of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, there was no mention of the Robin Hood analogy in remarks that journalists were allowed to hear.

The $35,800-a-person event was co-hosted by screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and actress Anne Hathaway. Vogue editor Anna Wintour, actress Joanne Woodward and talk-show host Jerry Springer were also in the crowd.

ROMNEY STRIKES BACK

Meanwhile, Romney will launch a new attack against President Barack Obama on Tuesday, taking aim at the Democrat’s plan to waive parts of a landmark welfare-to-work law.

Romney is targeting Obama’s plan to let states seek a waiver from the work requirements of a 1996 welfare law that was a signature bipartisan achievement of former Democratic President Bill Clinton’s administration.

Romney’s attack, laid out in a new television ad and a topic he will address at a campaign event in the Chicago area, is aimed at bolstering his charge that Obama’s solutions to many of America’s problems is to rely on government.

“Middle-class Americans are working harder and harder to make ends meet. Under President Obama, they have fewer jobs and less take-home pay. And now, President Obama wants to take their hard-earned tax dollars and give it to welfare recipients without work requirements,” said Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul.

The directive from the Health and Human Services Department allows states to pursue a waiver from the work requirement of the welfare law in order to test alternative strategies that would help needy families find jobs. The aim is to give states some flexibility in how they carry out the welfare law as some state governors have advocated, rather than sticking to a rigid formula.

But the health department’s decision has generated strong opposition from Republicans. In the House, 76 Republicans complained in a letter to Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who sought to assure them that states will have to move at least 20 percent more people from welfare to work.

But in a bare-knuckled presidential campaign, such nuances are quickly cast aside, and Romney is going full throttle after Obama on the issue.

“Obama guts welfare reform,” says the video script of the Romney ad, while a voice says: “Under Obama’s plan, you wouldn’t have to work and wouldn’t have to train for a job. They just send you your welfare check.”

WHITE HOUSE DISTANCES ITSELF FROM HARRY REID’S ATTACK LINE

Senator Harry Reid and the White House may be taking different roads, but when it comes to Mitt Romney and his taxes, the destination is the same.

That became clearer than ever Monday in the daily White House briefing by spokesman Jay Carney. While keeping a distance from Senate Majority Leader Reid and his claim that Romney failed to pay taxes for 10 years, Carney was happy to take advantage of all the attention, and questions, provoked by the allegation to drive home the administration’s broader message.

The bare-knuckle fight over Mitt Romney’s tax returns has become part of one effort led by the two highest-ranking Democrats in the country aimed at convincing voters that the Republican presidential candidate cannot be trusted to protect middle-class taxpayers if he won the White House.

“I’m not aware of the White House speaking to Senator Reid about this issue,” Carney said Monday. “I would simply say that you all probably know Senator Reid well, and he speaks for himself, and he has addressed this issue.”

REUTERS/Jason Reed U.S. President Barack Obama greets members of the audience after delivering remarks at an election campaign fundraiser in Stamford, Connecticut, August 6, 2012.

But, he added, “The reason why this is an issue at a policy level is the president believes very strongly … that we need to have greater tax fairness and that we need to make sure that we’re passing laws that protect the middle class, that specifically give the middle class a tax cut extension, and that we’re not passing laws that give tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires who have already enjoyed substantial tax breaks in the past.”

Reid continues to cite as his source only a single unnamed investor with Bain Capital, the firm that Romney headed for many years.

Romney denies Reid’s charge and has called on him to “put up or shut up.” Surrogates rushed to his defense over the weekend, with Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus on Sunday calling Reid “a dirty liar” and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham saying the top Senate Democrat was “making things up.”

It might be impossible to know which side is right unless Romney releases a decade’s worth of tax returns — something he so far has refused to do.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/08/07/meet-romney-hood-the-tax-plan-barack-obama-says-robs-from-the-middle-class-to-pay-the-rich/feed/1stdU.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks during a campaign event in Stamford, Connecticut, on August 6, 2012.Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney leaves Rite Aid Pharmacy in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire August 6, 2012. Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney pushes a shopping cart after buying groceries at Hunter's Shop and Save supermarket in Wolfeboro, N.H., Monday, Aug. 6, 2012. U.S. President Barack Obama greets members of the audience after delivering remarks at an election campaign fundraiser in Stamford, Connecticut, August 6, 2012. Mitt Romney says more Fed stimulus would not help struggling U.S. economyhttp://news.nationalpost.com/2012/08/05/mitt-romney-says-more-fed-stimulus-would-not-help-struggling-u-s-economy/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/08/05/mitt-romney-says-more-fed-stimulus-would-not-help-struggling-u-s-economy/#commentsSun, 05 Aug 2012 15:21:03 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=200402

WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said on Sunday that a fresh round of monetary stimulus from the Federal Reserve would not help the fragile U.S. economy.

A stream of disappointing economic news has underpinned expectations that the central bank will do more to stimulate growth with a third round of bond purchases, also known as quantitative easing or QE3.

“I am sure the Fed is watching, will try to encourage the economy, but I don’t think a massive new QE3 is going to help this economy,” Romney said in an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union” television program that was aired on Sunday.

“The Fed’s first action, quantitative easing was effective to a certain degree. But I believe that the QE2, the second round of easing, I don’t think it had the impact that they were hoping for,” he said.

Related

Romney, who has been stressing his business acumen and years as Massachusetts governor as reasons he can help heal the economy, has vowed to create 12 million jobs in his first four years in office should he beat Democratic President Barack Obama in the November election.

The unemployment rate ticked up to 8.2 percent in June, a reported released last week showed, prompting Romney to tear into Obama’s handling of the economy, a key election issue.

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve signaled that a new round of major support could be on the way if the recovery does not pick up.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney press ahead Thursday with differing economic visions in three of the most tightly contested states in this year’s election, looking to build enthusiasm with a public otherwise preoccupied with summer holidays and the Olympics.

Obama travels to Florida and Virginia to focus on the Romney tax plan that the president says would force middle-income taxpayers to pay more while reducing assessments for the wealthy.

Romney visits Colorado, where he was to appear with 10 Republican governors, some mentioned as potential running mates.

Their travels come as Congress helped the candidates frame the economic issues Wednesday with partisan votes on tax measures that underscored Washington’s political stalemate. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives approved an extension of Bush-era tax cuts for all income levels, just a week after the Democratic-controlled Senate voted in favour of Obama’s plan for continuing reduced tax rates only for households earning less than $250,000 or for individuals under $200,000.

The Obama campaign released a new ad Thursday citing a report by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center that concluded Romney’s tax proposals would result in cuts for the wealthiest Americans and higher bills for everyone else. “He pays less, you pay more,” the ad says. The campaign said it will air in New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Colorado and Nevada — states viewed as up for grabs for both candidates.

With the tax issue dominating the current debate, Obama was visiting two states that represent the bookends of the national economy. Florida is among the states hardest hit by the collapse of the housing market and has an unemployment rate of 8.6 per cent, higher than the national average and tied for 39th among the 50 states. Virginia, on the other hand, has the 10th lowest unemployment at 5.6 per cent.

Colorado has been struggling with a jobless rate equal to the national average of 8.2 per cent. For Romney, the trip west is his first political campaign appearance since returning from an overseas trip designed to display his foreign policy credentials.

REUTERS/Jason Reed U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney waves to hundreds of people gathered outside before his meeting with Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk at the Old Town Hall in Gdansk, July 30, 2012.

As if to emphasize the challenge facing the presidential contenders, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday said the economy was losing strength. The U.S. central bank took no new action to boost the economy, but it appeared to signal an inclination to take steps to stimulate job creation if the economic deceleration continued.

The next major marker of economic health is released Friday, when the government announces July hiring and unemployment trends.

Economists forecast that U.S. employers added 100,000 jobs in July. That would be slightly better than the 75,000-a-month average from April through June but still below the healthier 226,000 average in the first three months of the year.

The appearance of Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, with Republican governors Thursday would tease speculation about his pick for a running mate. Those with him will include New Jersey’s Chris Christie, Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal, South Carolina’s Nikki Haley and Virginia’s Bob McDonnnell, all of whom have been mentioned as possible Romney picks. Absent will be two of the most often mentioned possibilities, Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

Obama was headed to Orlando to make up for an appearance he postponed last month after the shooting tragedy in Colorado. Orlando is in the middle of a swath of Florida that separates the Republican-leaning north of the state and the Democratic-leaning south.

He then will take his message of higher taxes for rich Americans to Leesburg, Virginia, in the nation’s wealthiest county, near Washington, D.C. Obama carried the county in 2008, the first time a Democratic presidential candidate won there in four decades.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/08/02/barack-obama-mitt-romney-head-to-battleground-states-with-competing-economic-messages/feed/0stdU.S. President Barack Obama waves as he walks past the Marine One helicopter on the South Lawn of the White House upon his return to Washington after a one day trip to Ohio, August 1, 2012.U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney waves to hundreds of people gathered outside before his meeting with Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk at the Old Town Hall in Gdansk, July 30, 2012. Gingrich says Romney was right on Palestinians as candidate tries to shift attention to VP pickhttp://news.nationalpost.com/2012/08/01/gingrich-says-romney-was-right-on-palestinians-as-candidate-tries-to-shift-attention-to-vp-pick/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/08/01/gingrich-says-romney-was-right-on-palestinians-as-candidate-tries-to-shift-attention-to-vp-pick/#commentsWed, 01 Aug 2012 18:54:22 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=199577

While Mitt Romney tried to back away from the comments he made in the Middle East that were called “racist,” his former rival in the Republican primary, Newt Gingrich, has stepped up to endorse the controversial statement.

“I don’t think [Romney] made a mistake in Israel. I think the comments about culture were right,” Gingrich told CNN Wednesday.

On Monday, Romney told a group of wealthy Jewish donors in Jerusalem that their culture was part of the reason Israelis were more economically successful than Palestinians.

“And as I come here and I look out over this city and consider the accomplishments of the people of this nation, I recognize the power of at least culture and a few other things,” Romney said, citing an innovative business climate, the Jewish history of thriving in difficult circumstances and the “hand of providence.”

David Becker/Getty ImagesNewt Gingrich suspended his campaign for the Republican presidential nominaiton in the spring.

He compared the highly skewed GDP per capiya ratios between Israelis and Palestinians, although in actuality, there is much more disparity than what he cited.

After angry Palestinians called his comments “racist,” Romney later tried to walk back the statement, saying it was broader than just a comparison between Israel and Palestine.

Gingrich said Romney should have double-downed on the remarks.

“I wish that the elites of this country had the courage to look at the United Nations refugee camps and realize what an anti-human disaster those refuge camps are, how much they have been breeders of terrorism, how fundamentally wrong their design is and how much we’ve done a disservice to… the Palestinians by allowing them to be subjected to that kind of government run, totally inappropriate structure,” he said.

“I hope that Governor Romney will stick to his guns. Let’s have the argument.”

Whether or not Gingrich’s comments were well-intended, it’s likely they were unwelcome to the Romney campaign as they attempt to put the gaffe-prone overseas tour of the U.K., Israel and Poland behind them.

REUTERS/Daniel Acker/Files Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty speaks during the Iowa straw poll in Ames, Iowa, in this August 13, 2011 file picture. His name is often mentioned to be Mitt Romney's running mate.

VP SPECULATION

Romney was spending Wednesday in private meetings at his Boston headquarters amid speculation about who would be his vice-presidential candidate.

While many analysts downplay the importance of the vice-president on the ticket, the Republicans are still smarting from former Alaska governor Sarah Palin’s impact on the 2008 election.

Romney, who leads U.S. President Barack Obama in polls on economic competence, faces a significant challenge in terms of “likability” as polls show Americans personally prefer Obama to Romney.

New television ads from Romney seems to address that issue, but his vice-presidential choice could attempt to shore up that aspect of the ticket.

The Romney campaign sought to hype up the VP choice by releasing a smartphone app to announce the pick so users could learn “before the press and just about everyone else [except maybe Ann (Romney)].”

The campaign said the answer could come at any time.

Some of the most speculated-about names for the job include former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, and former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice.

A new poll put Obama ahead of Romney in three key states, Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio, where the president is making his ninth campaign trip to Wednesday.

The Quinnipiac University/New York Times/CBS News polls found Obama with a 6-percentage-point lead over Romney in Florida and Ohio and up by 11 percentage points in Pennsylvania.

After watching Romney trip himself up on the international stage, Obama has once again returned to hammering his Republican rival over tax policy.

“He’s asking you to pay more so that people like him can get a tax cut,” Obama said in excerpts released before his speech Wednesday.

With files from The Associated Press

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/08/01/gingrich-says-romney-was-right-on-palestinians-as-candidate-tries-to-shift-attention-to-vp-pick/feed/2stdU.S. Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, enters the podium before his speach in the Hall of the University of Warsaw Library on July 31, 2012 in Warsaw, Poland.Newt Gingrich suspended his campaign for the Republican presidential nominaiton in the spring. USA-CAMPAIGN_PAWLENTYUS President Barack Obama (R) talks with college student Lia Brunetti (L) and Carol Fisher (C) during an unannounced visit to the Squirrel's Den gift shop in Mansfield Ohio, August 1, 2012. Mitt Romney blames media for overseas gaffes as campaign says trip went ‘great’http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/31/mitt-romney-blames-media-for-overseas-gaffes-as-campaign-says-trip-went-great/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/31/mitt-romney-blames-media-for-overseas-gaffes-as-campaign-says-trip-went-great/#commentsTue, 31 Jul 2012 19:55:34 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=199351

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney says the international controversies set off by his comments in Europe and the Middle East was a result of the media “trying to find [something]” to write about.

Romney’s seven-day tour, which took him to the U.K., Israel and Poland, ended Tuesday with a senior aide telling the travelling press corp to “kiss my ass” and to “shove it.”

Home will look mighty good to ‘kiss my ass’ Romney campaign

Things are really getting dicey on Mitt Romney’s international tour. The Republican candidate has now caused three flaps in three countries — a perfect batting average. And the pressure is beginning to show.

The tour was intended to demonstrate that a Romney presidency would regain the respect and stature frittered away by four years of weak-kneed foreign policy as practiced by that lilly-livered president, Barack Obama. Romney would display a sure hand with world leaders, and demonstrate his high level of comfort when handling complex international affairs.

The press corp said the Republican candidate only answered three questions during he week, the third being last Thursday.

But in an interview with Fox News, Romney blasted the media, and blamed them for stirring up trouble and not reporting on the issues he thinks should be reported on.

“I realize that there will be some in the fourth estate or whatever estate who are far more interested in finding something to write about that is unrelated to the economy, to geopolitics, to the threat of war, to the reality of conflict in Afghanistan today, to a nuclearization of Iran,” Romney said.

“They are instead trying to find anything else to divert from the fact that these last four years have been tough years for our country.”

Romney’s tour, meant to shore up his foreign policy credentials, featured a public smackdown from British Prime Minister David Cameron and accusations that he made “racist” statements.

Romney also made several policy statements that raised eyebrows, particularity his pledge to seemingly follow Israel into any unilateral action the country makes against Iran.

U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta declined comment on Romney’s pledge, only saying his administration’s approach is the right one.

Prior to leaving Poland Tuesday to return to the United States, Romney adviser Stuart Stevens said the trip went “great” because it focused on the “big stuff.”

REUTERS/Jason ReedMitt Romney, second-right, tours the Great Pavilion exhibit with British Foreign Secretary William Hague, second-left, alongside other government officials at the Foreign Ministry in London Thursday.

TOUR ‘HIGHLIGHTS’

The trip got off on the wrong foot immediately after Romney questioned whether London could pull off holding the Olympics.

Romney, who managed the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002, faced an angry British public and press, putting Cameron on the defensive.

“We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world. Of course it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere,” the prime minister fired back.

The cheeky British press had a field day with Romney, basically labelling him an “American Mr. Bean.” It was a far cry from the hero’s welcome Barack Obama received in Europe during his 2008 campaign.

Carsten Koall/Getty ImagesWARSAW, POLAND - JULY 31: U.S. Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (C), prepares to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on July 31, 2012 in Warsaw, Poland. After visiting London, Israel, and the polish city of Gdansk, Romney traveled to Warsaw to meet with the Polish President and Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski.

It was Romney’s comments in the Middle East that drew the most serious rebuke, however.

On Sunday, he seemingly set aside decades of U.S. foreign policy by calling Jerusalem Israel’s capital and also had an aide say he would “respect” Israel unilaterally striking against Iran.

On Monday, Romney was forced on the defensive after he told a group of wealthy Jewish donors at a breakfast in Jerusalem that their culture was one of the reasons Israelis were more economically successful than Palestinians.

“And as I come here and I look out over this city and consider the accomplishments of the people of this nation, I recognize the power of at least culture and a few other things,” Romney said citing an innovative business climate, the Jewish history of thriving in difficult circumstances and the “hand of providence.”

“It is a racist statement and this man doesn’t realize that the Palestinian economy cannot reach its potential because there is an Israeli occupation,” Saeb Erekat, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told The Associated Press.

“It seems to me this man (Romney) lacks information, knowledge, vision and understanding of this region and its people,” Erekat added. “He also lacks knowledge about the Israelis themselves. I have not heard any Israeli official speak about cultural superiority.”

Finally, on Tuesday, travelling press secretary Rick Gorka grew furious as reporters shouted questions after Romney visited the Polish Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Romney was headed back to his car when reporters began asking questions from behind a rope line.

“Kiss my ass, this is a holy site for the Polish people,” Gorka said to the press crops. “Show some respect.”

He also told a CNN reporter to “shove it.”

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/31/mitt-romney-blames-media-for-overseas-gaffes-as-campaign-says-trip-went-great/feed/3stdU.S. Republican party presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks at an event in Jerusalem on July 29, 2012.U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Romney tours the Great Pavilion exhibit with British Foreign Secretary Hague in LondonWARSAW, POLAND - JULY 31: U.S. Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (C), prepares to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on July 31, 2012 in Warsaw, Poland. After visiting London, Israel, and the polish city of Gdansk, Romney traveled to Warsaw to meet with the Polish President and Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski. Kelly McParland: Home will look mighty good to ‘kiss my ass’ Romney campaignhttp://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/31/kelly-mcparland-home-will-look-mighty-good-to-kiss-my-ass-romney-campaign/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/31/kelly-mcparland-home-will-look-mighty-good-to-kiss-my-ass-romney-campaign/#commentsTue, 31 Jul 2012 15:42:46 +0000http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/?p=86447

Things are really getting dicey on Mitt Romney’s international tour. The Republican candidate has now caused three flaps in three countries — a perfect batting average. And the pressure is beginning to show.

The tour was intended to demonstrate that a Romney presidency would regain the respect and stature frittered away by four years of weak-kneed foreign policy as practiced by that lilly-livered president, Barack Obama. Romney would display a sure hand with world leaders, and demonstrate his high level of comfort when handling complex international affairs.

Instead it’s been gaffe gaffe gaffe. First he set off all of Fleet Street by questioning Britain’s security plans for the Olympics. Then he declared that Israelis are better off than Palestinians because of their cultural superiority. By the time he got to Poland, the last stop on the tour, his press aides had had quite enough of the mean-spirited press and quit pretending otherwise.

Travelling press secretary Rick Gorka grew furious as reporters shouted questions after Romney visited the Polish Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Romney was headed back to his car when reporters began asking questions from behind a rope line, Politico reports.

“Kiss my ass, this is a holy site for the Polish people,” Gorka said to the press crops. “Show some respect.”

He also told a CNN reporter to “shove it.”

Ooooh, Rick, you’re not supposed to do that. No matter how deceitful, shallow, annoying and unhelpful the press may be, insulting them achieves nothing. Remember how Obama was assailed by the same press pack when, early in his term, he quit cooperating with Fox TV, just because they constantly trashed everything he said or did? He may have had a legitimate beef, but he’s the one who came out of the dispute looking bad.

Obama was president by then. Romney is just a candidate, and his campaign team isn’t looking too professional. It was an aide, not Romney himself, who first suggested the candidate would be happy to endorse a military strike against Iran. (Romney backtracked). It was likewise an aide who suggested Romney would get along better with Britain because of their shared “Anglo Saxon” heritage. (Other Romney aides questioned the accuracy of the report). Now it’s a press flack who is stirring bad blood with the press. (He later called to apologize).

Republican onlookers insist Americans don’t care much about overseas, or pay much attention to what goes on there. If that’s the case, why make the trip in the first place? Even if voters aren’t focused on campaign events yet, they do tend to absorb general impressions, and the general impression of Romney’s first foreign foray has been that it’s a disaster. Any time the candidate accuses Obama of flubbing the war in Libya (no deaths, one dictator ousted), the Democratic campaign only has to point out that Romney couldn’t even visit three staunch allies without making a mess of things.

The obvious suggestion is to dump the aides and get a better team to support the candidate in the final three months. But it’s late in the day for that kind of shuffle, and would open Romney to further accusations. He’s been campaigning for this job for most of the past five years, after all. If he hasn’t got it right by now, there’s not a lot of rehearsal time left.

After an international tour highlighted by the Republican presidential nominee being verbally spanked by British Prime Minister David Cameron and then being accused of making “racist” comments in the Middle East, the last thing Romney needed was another flare-up in the media.

But a top Romney aide provided that Tuesday in Warsaw, Poland when he told reporters to “shove it” and “kiss my ass” as they hurled questions about the gaffes on the trip.

Travelling press secretary Rick Gorka grew furious as reporters shouted questions after Romney visited the Polish Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Romney was headed back to his car when reporters began asking questions from behind a rope line, Politico reports.

“Kiss my ass, this is a holy site for the Polish people,” Gorka said to the press crops. “Show some respect.”

Gorka reportedly called several journalists to apologize for his remarks.

Journalists complained they weren’t given any other chances to ask questions. Romney hasn’t taken questions from the media since last Thursday in London. Even Fox News scolded the Republican for not taking questions.

The travelling press corps said Romney only answered three questions from them during the entire seven-day trip before he made his way for the airport Tuesday.

“In the 1980s, when other nations doubted that political tyranny could ever be faced down or overcome, the answer was, ‘Look to Poland’,” Romney said in a speech in the library of Warsaw University. “And today, as some wonder about the way forward out of economic recession and fiscal crisis, the answer is to ‘Look to Poland’ once again.”

Romney has said that Russia is “without question our No. 1 geopolitical foe.”

It is speculated that one of the reasons Romney picked Poland for the third nation of his tour, is that his tough talk on Russia will play well there.

REUTERS/Jason Reed U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney delivers foreign policy remarks at the University of Warsaw, July 31, 2012.

A ROCKY TOUR

The three-nation tour was intended to shore up Romney’s foreign credentials. In 2008, Barack Obama visited the Middle East and Europe during his presidential campaign, highlighted by his speech in Berlin which was attended by more than 200,000 people.

Romney’s tour has similarly been memorable but for different reasons.

On Monday, Romney was forced on the defensive after he told a group of wealthy Jewish donors at a breakfast in Jerusalem that their culture was one of the reasons Israelis were more economically successful than Palestinians.

“And as I come here and I look out over this city and consider the accomplishments of the people of this nation, I recognize the power of at least culture and a few other things,” Romney said citing an innovative business climate, the Jewish history of thriving in difficult circumstances and the “hand of providence.”

The comment drew immediate criticism.

“It is a racist statement and this man doesn’t realize that the Palestinian economy cannot reach its potential because there is an Israeli occupation,” Saeb Erekat, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told The Associated Press.

“It seems to me this man (Romney) lacks information, knowledge, vision and understanding of this region and its people,” Erekat added. “He also lacks knowledge about the Israelis themselves. I have not heard any Israeli official speak about cultural superiority.”

The Israel trip followed an excursion to London, where the British press labelled Romney the “American Mr. Bean” after his comments on the Olympics drew ire from Prime Minister David Cameron, London Mayor Boris Johnson and the general public.

Romney called the preparation for the London Olympics “disconcerting,” although he later tried to walk back those remarks.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/31/after-gaffe-filled-international-tour-exasperated-mitt-romney-aide-tells-reporters-to-shove-it-kiss-my-assio/feed/7stdWARSAW, POLAND - JULY 31: U.S. Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (C), prepares to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on July 31, 2012 in Warsaw, Poland. After visiting London, Israel, and the polish city of Gdansk, Romney traveled to Warsaw to meet with the Polish President and Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski.U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney delivers foreign policy remarks at the University of Warsaw, July 31, 2012. ‘Grossly mischaracterized': Mitt Romney back in damage control after ‘racist’ remarkhttp://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/30/grossly-mischaracterized-mitt-romney-back-in-damage-control-after-racist-remark/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/30/grossly-mischaracterized-mitt-romney-back-in-damage-control-after-racist-remark/#commentsMon, 30 Jul 2012 18:58:35 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=199023

Mitt Romney’s campaign for U.S. president is once again in damage control today after the Republican nominee told Jewish donors their culture has allowed Israelis to be more economically successful than Palestinians.

Outraged Palestinian leaders suggested his comments were racist and out of touch with the realities of the Middle East due to the occupation of Palestinian lands and its stringent controls over access to the West Bank and movement of its residents. Romney’s campaign said his remarks were mischaracterized as they were broader than just a comparison between Israel and Palestine.

Romney also spoke aggressively Sunday about protecting Israel from Iranian nuclear threats and suggested that he was open to breaking with U.S. policy dating to 1967 by moving the United States embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv if the Israelis asked.

Assessing America’s international challenges, Mr. Romney declared Russia is “without question our number one geopolitical foe.” The remark seemed to ignore China’s overwhelming growth in influence and stature, and the ongoing crises of the Middle East, not least Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Though, having ceded decision-making authority on that front to Israel, perhaps Mr. Romney felt the file was closed.

The issue has been a major diplomatic headache for the Americans, who have refused to make the shift because it would imply the sanctioning of Israel’s incorporation of Arab East Jerusalem after its capture in the 1967 Mideast war.

Despite losing control of their portion of the ancient city, Palestinians have refused to drop their demand that it become the capital of any state accorded them in return for peace with Israel.

The former Massachusetts governor arrived in Poland today on the third and final leg of a foreign tour aimed at burnishing his foreign policy credentials and demonstrating that he would be a viable alternative to U.S. President Barack Obama on the world stage. But his trip has been overshadowed after gaffes during the first leg of his tour, in Britain, generated negative newspaper headlines and criticism even from some of his own supporters.

His arrival in Poland wasn’t even without controversy as Solidarity, the trade union movement which led the Polish struggle against Communist rule, distanced itself from Romney, saying he supported attacks against unions in his own country.

Romney met with with Lech Walesa, Plosh president between 1990 and 1995 and former a shipyard electrician who co-founded Solidarity and helped lead led the union movement against Communism during the 1980s.

“Regretfully, we were informed by our friends from the American headquarters of (trade union federation) AFL-CIO, which represents more than 12 million employees … that Mitt Romney supported attacks on trade unions and employees’ rights,” Solidarity said in a statement.

“Solidarity was not involved in organizing Romney’s meeting with Walesa and did not invite him to visit Poland.”

Walesa effectively endorsed Romney in a statement.

In Gdansk, Romney, who has called Russia the top “geopolitical foe” of the U.S., tried to portray himself as a president who would be a strong ally to Moscow-wary Poland.

Hundreds of people watched Romney and his wife, Ann, arrive at the Gdansk Old Town Hall for a meeting with Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

REUTERS/Jason ReedU.S. Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, his wife Ann and their son Josh (R) place roses as they visit the Solidarity Monument Site in Gdansk, Poland, July 30, 2012.

ISRAEL COMMENTS

Speaking at a breakfast with wealthy Jewish donors at the luxurious King David Hotel in Jerusalem Monday, Romney’s comments quickly turned into another international incident.

“As you come here and you see the GDP per capita, for instance, in Israel which is about $21,000 dollars, and compare that with the GDP per capita just across the areas managed by the Palestinian Authority, which is more like $10,000 per capita, you notice such a dramatically stark difference in economic vitality,” Romney said.

“And as I come here and I look out over this city and consider the accomplishments of the people of this nation, I recognize the power of at least culture and a few other things,” Romney added, citing an innovative business climate, the Jewish history of thriving in difficult circumstances and the “hand of providence.”

Th economic disparity between Israelis and Palestinians is actually far greater, according to the World Bank.

The organization reports Israel had a per capita gross domestic product of about $31,000 in 2011, while the West Bank and Gaza had a per capita GDP of just over $1,500.

AFP PHOTO/ALEX KOLOMOISKY U.S. Republican party presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks at an event in Jerusalem on July 29, 2012.

“It is a racist statement and this man doesn’t realize that the Palestinian economy cannot reach its potential because there is an Israeli occupation,” Saeb Erekat, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told The Associated Press.

“It seems to me this man (Romney) lacks information, knowledge, vision and understanding of this region and its people,” Erekat added. “He also lacks knowledge about the Israelis themselves. I have not heard any Israeli official speak about cultural superiority.”

The breakfast was attended by top donors, mostly Jewish Americans living in Israel, included billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson, New York Jets owner Woody Johnson and hedge fund manager Paul Singer.

Adelson, who has pledged $100 million to help the Republicans defeat Obama, sat next to Romney.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/30/grossly-mischaracterized-mitt-romney-back-in-damage-control-after-racist-remark/feed/4stdU.S. Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney waves to hundreds of people gathered outside before his meeting with Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk at the Old Town Hall in Gdansk, July 30, 2012.U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, his wife Ann and their son Josh (R) place roses as they visit the Solidarity Monument Site in Gdansk, Poland, July 30, 2012. U.S. Republican party presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks at an event in Jerusalem on July 29, 2012. Barack Obama: ‘Help me Bill Clinton’http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/30/barack-obama-help-me-bill-clinton/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/30/barack-obama-help-me-bill-clinton/#commentsMon, 30 Jul 2012 17:35:12 +0000http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/?p=86377

Guess who’s coming to a Democratic convention near you: Yes, it’s the ever-popular Bill Clinton, who, like Ronald Reagan, only appears to grow in stature the longer he’s been out of the Oval Office.

Mr. Clinton will deliver a keynote speech and formally nominate Barack Obama for a second term in office.

Says the New York Times:

The prominent role of Mr. Clinton, which is scheduled to be announced on Monday, signals an effort by the Obama campaign to pull out all the stops to rally Democrats when they gather for their party’s national convention in Charlotte, N.C

More to the point, the Washington Post says the role accorded the former president “is an acknowledgment by President Obama and his inner political circle of two things. First, that there is no better economic messenger in the party than the former president. And second that Obama needs Clinton.”

Not to get too conspiratorial about this, but could it also be a marker on behalf of Mr. Clinton, so that, in the remote possibility Hillary Clinton overcomes her reluctance and decides to seek the presidency in 2016, the Obama wing of the party will be expected to support her big time?

Meanwhile, ABC reports that former Republican vice-president Dick Cheney will skip his party’s convention, and go fishing instead. Ditto the two Bush presidents, George W. and George H.W. Politico comments: “Unless former vice president Dan Quayle shows up in Tampa, there will be no former presidents or vice presidents at the event.”

Cheney also missed the 2008 convention.Read more: On Sunday he told an interviewer that John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as a running mate was a mistake.

“I like Governor Palin. I’ve met her. I know her. She’s an attractive candidate. But based on her background, she’d only been governor for, what, two years. I don’t think she passed that test … of being ready to take over,”

Being friends with Israel is one thing, delegating the decision to go to war is something else

Romney pledged that, as president, he’d agree to pretty much any action Israel decided to adopt towards Iran, military or otherwise, while suggesting it was not Washington’s place to take the lead in seeking peace.

Being friends with Israel is one thing, but delegating the decision on whether to go to war is something else. Most European countries stopped making that sort of promise after stumbling into the First World War based on mutual aggression agreements.

His remarks on Russia have similarly elicited questions. Assessing America’s international challenges, Mr. Romney declared Russia is “without question our number one geopolitical foe.” The remark seemed to ignore China’s overwhelming growth in influence and stature, and the ongoing crises of the Middle East, not least Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Though, having ceded decision-making authority on that front to Israel, perhaps Mr. Romney felt the file was closed.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has been accused of undermining the Middle East peace process and making “racist” statements during his trip to Israel after telling wealthy Jewish donors that their culture is part of the reason Israelis are more economically successful than nearby Palestinians.

Romney also spoke aggressively Sunday about protecting Israel from Iranian nuclear threats and suggested that he was open to breaking with U.S. policy dating to 1967 by moving the United States embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv if the Israelis asked.

“As you come here and you see the GDP per capita, for instance, in Israel which is about $21,000 dollars, and compare that with the GDP per capita just across the areas managed by the Palestinian Authority, which is more like $10,000 per capita, you notice such a dramatically stark difference in economic vitality,” Romney told about 40 donors who breakfasted at the luxurious King David Hotel in Jerusalem Monday.

“And as I come here and I look out over this city and consider the accomplishments of the people of this nation, I recognize the power of at least culture and a few other things,” Romney said, citing an innovative business climate, the Jewish history of thriving in difficult circumstances and the “hand of providence.”

Israel was the second of three stops on an international trip for Romney intended to burnish his foreign policy credentials before he claims the Republican presidential nomination at his party’s national convention in Tampa, Florida, in late August.

But within days of being publicly criticized by the British prime minister for his statements about the Olympics, Romney’s comments once again put him at the centre of an international dustup.

“It is a racist statement and this man doesn’t realize that the Palestinian economy cannot reach its potential because there is an Israeli occupation,” Saeb Erekat, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told The Associated Press.

“It seems to me this man (Romney) lacks information, knowledge, vision and understanding of this region and its people,” Erekat added. “He also lacks knowledge about the Israelis themselves. I have not heard any Israeli official speak about cultural superiority.”

On Sunday, Romney, presenting himself as Israel’s best friend in the November 6 presidential election, said on Sunday that “any and all measures” must be used to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

A top aide said Romney would support an Israeli military strike if all options had been exhausted, but the candidate himself balked at repeating that position.

In a foreign policy speech in Jerusalem, Romney voiced strong support for the alliance between the United States and Israel and seemed to suggest that President Barack Obama had let the relationship flounder.

“We cannot stand silent as those who seek to undermine Israel voice their criticisms. And we certainly should not join in that criticism. Diplomatic distance in public between our nations emboldens Israel’s adversaries,” said Romney, the walls of the Old City lining the hilltop behind him.

REUTERS/Aaron Josefczyk(Click to enlarge) Brett Favre (R), with New York Jets owner Woody Johnson at his side, talks during a news conference as he is introduced as a member of the New York Jets on August 7, 2008. Johnson attended a breakfast fundraiser for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in Jerusalem Monday.

The former Massachusetts governor was in Jerusalem on the second leg of a trip to strengthen his foreign policy credentials in his race to unseat Obama.

“We should employ any and all measures to dissuade the Iranian regime from its nuclear course, and it is our fervent hope that diplomatic and economic measures will do so. In the final analysis, of course, no option should be excluded. We recognize Israel’s right to defend itself, and that it is right for America to stand with you,” he said.

Though he adopted an aggressive tone, Romney did not go as far as his senior foreign policy advisor, Dan Senor, who said earlier: “If Israel has to take action on its own, in order to stop Iran from developing that capability, the governor would respect that decision.”

The aide’s comments put Romney at odds with Obama’s efforts to press Israel to avoid any pre-emptive strike before tough Western economic sanctions against Iran run their course.

Romney, however, refused to repeat them when asked by CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

“Well I think because I’m on foreign soil I don’t want to be creating new foreign policy for my country or in any way to distance myself in the foreign policy of our nation. But we respect the right of a nation to defend itself,” Romney said.

The failure of talks between Iran and six world powers to secure a breakthrough in curbing what the West fears is a drive to develop nuclear weapons has raised international concern that Israel may opt for a military strike.

AP Photo/Charles DharapakRepublican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and his wife Ann board their charter plane in Tel Aviv, Israel as they travel to Poland, Monday, July 30, 2012.

‘STRONG MILITARY THREAT’

The presidential hopeful was greeted warmly earlier by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an old friend of his, who has at times had a strained relationship with Obama.

Netanyahu issued his customary call for stronger measures behind the sanctions to prevent Iran from developing an atomic bomb, which Israel says would be a threat to its existence. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

“We have to be honest that sanctions have not set back the Tehran program one iota and that a strong military threat coupled with sanctions are needed to have a chance to change the situation,” Netanyahu said.

Israel, widely assumed to be the Middle East’s only nuclear-armed state, has warned it is only a matter of time before Iran’s nuclear program achieves a “zone of immunity” in which uranium enrichment facilities buried deep underground will be invulnerable to bombing.

(Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty ImagesU.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney visits the Western Wall on July 29, 2012 in Jerusalem's old city, Israel. Mitt Romney visits Israel as part of a three-nation foreign tour which also includes visits to Poland and Great Britain.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, arriving in Tunisia at the start of a week-long trip to the Middle East and North Africa, defended U.S.-Israeli defense cooperation under Obama.

“I’m not going to comment on what political candidates say or don’t say,” Panetta said.

“I’m proud of the defense partnership that we’ve built over the past several years. The U.S.-Israel defense relationship, I believe, is stronger today than it has been in the past,” the Pentagon chief told reporters traveling with him.

Though Washington has been pressing Israel not to launch a solo strike on Iran, Obama has not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to curb Iran’s nuclear drive.

Panetta said his view is that the Israelis “have not made any decisions with regards to Iran and that they continue to support the international effort to bring pressure against Iran.”

In an effort that appeared timed to upstage Romney’s visit to Israel, Obama signed a measure on Friday to strengthen U.S.-Israeli military ties.

Romney’s overseas tour got off to a rocky start, when he angered the British by questioning whether London was ready for the Olympics, a statement he was forced to clarify after a rebuke from Prime Minister David Cameron.

AFP PHOTO/ALEX KOLOMOISKY U.S. Republican party presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks at an event in Jerusalem on July 29, 2012.

His visit to Israel gives him the opportunity to appeal to Jewish voters and pro-Israel evangelical voters and contrast himself with Obama.

Romney has sharply criticized Obama’s handling of Iran as not being tough enough.

After talks with Israeli leaders, Romney met Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. He then visited the Western Wall, Judaism’s most revered site.

Wearing a black Jewish skullcap and surrounded by a determined throng of security personnel who cleared a path for him, Romney carefully navigated his way through hundreds of worshippers, some of whom shouted cries of support.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/30/mitt-romney-says-jewish-culture-makes-israelis-more-economically-successful-than-palestinians/feed/11stdU.S. Republican party presidential candidate Mitt Romney stands of the Jerusalem Old City walls at an event in Jerusalem on July 29, 2012. Romney hailed Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in an apparent endorsement of a position held by the Jewish state but never accepted by the international community.Sheldon Adelson (R), Chairman of Las Vegas Sands Corp, and his wife Miriam are pictured after attending U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney's foreign policy remarks at Mishkenot Sha'ananim in Jerusalem, July 29, 2012. Brett Favre (R), with New York Jets owner Woody Johnson at his side, talks during a news conference as he is introduced as a member of the New York Jets prior to the Jets preseason game against the Cleveland Browns in Cleveland Ohio August 7, 2008. Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and his wife Ann board their charter plane in Tel Aviv, Israel as they travel to Poland, Monday, July 30, 2012. U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney visits the Western Wall on July 29, 2012 in Jerusalem's old city, Israel. Mitt Romney visits Israel as part of a three-nation foreign tour which also includes visits to Poland and Great Britain. U.S. Republican party presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks at an event in Jerusalem on July 29, 2012. Mitt Romney easily outraises Barack Obama by more than $30 million in Junehttp://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/09/mitt-romney-easily-outraises-barack-obama-by-more-than-30-million-in-june/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/09/mitt-romney-easily-outraises-barack-obama-by-more-than-30-million-in-june/#commentsMon, 09 Jul 2012 16:08:28 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=192068

Mitt Romney and the Republican National Committee pulled in $106 million in fund raising in June, easily beating U.S. President Barack Obama’s $71 million.

After two straight months of out-raising his rival, there is distinct possibility that Romney could be the first presidential contender to raise more money than an incumbent president.

The Romney campaign said it raised nearly $5 million alone the day after the Supreme Court upheld Obama’s health-care plan.

The GOP did not release a breakdown in their fund-raising efforts. Romney’s campaign cannot accept donations of more than $2,500, but the Republican National Committee can accept donations of up to $30,800.

Romney’s big month doesn’t even include the success that “Super Pac” groups such as Restore our Future have had. That group, which supports the Romney campaign, received $10 million from a Las Vegas casino group CEO in June, according to reports.

The Obama campaign admitted it was beaten “handily” and Democrats have intensified calls for Romney to explain his offshore bank accounts and release several years of tax returns.

The line of attack, dismissed by the Romney campaign as an “unfounded character assault,” follows new reports that raise questions about Romney’s personal wealth, which could exceed $250 million.

Obama’s re-election campaign is expected to push the strategy throughout the coming week, underscoring their desire to portray Romney as disconnected from the middle-class voters he needs to win the presidency.

“He’s the first and only candidate for the president of the United States with a Swiss bank account, with tax shelters, with tax avoidance schemes that involve so many foreign countries,” Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said on CBS television on Sunday.

He was one of several high-profile Democrats who spoke out on the Sunday morning TV news shows.

‘He’s the first and only candidate for the president of the United States with a Swiss bank account’

In New York Sunday, Romney may have unintentionally played into the Obama theme, as he raised million from New York’s elite.

Republican donors driving Mercedes, Bentleys — and in one case a red 2013 Ferrari Spider — crowded into a series of closed-door Romney fundraisers in the Hamptons, New York’s exclusive string of waterfront communities on Long Island’s South Shore.

Meanwhile, Obama is expected to announce Monday he wants Congress to extend tax cuts for middle class families, while letting them rise on high earners.

The White House is again raising the tax issue with full knowledge that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives will not accept such a move unless it also includes extending tax cuts for high income earners.

A one-year across-the-board tax cut — that would extend the lower rates instituted under former President George W. Bush — expires at the end of the year.

Dr. Boyce Watkins, a writer for News One for Black America, notes sadly that U.S. President Barack Obama has badly let down the black constituency that was so energized by his 2008 victory.

In an article headline, “Face it, Black American Enthusiasm For President Obama Is Dead” he argues that the White House has been busy with policies for gays, women, immigrants and other Democrat groups, but “has been MIA for the black community.”

The last three years have been a relative wasteland when it comes to political and economic progress for African Americans, and even the most ardent Obama supporters are growing tired. They want to defend him at any cost, but he’s made it remarkably difficult.

Though black voters will in all likelihood continue to support Obama, he notes, the thrill is gone, and campaigning for him is like demanding a better mark for a student who’s been coasting through class.

Obama is not the iconic figure that he once was, no longer a rock star. Far fewer African Americans are begging the Obama campaign to let them join the team and we’re all too broke to give money.

Having cleared its throat with the Preamble, the U.S. constitution buckles down to business with those words, which Republican Rep. Geoff Davis of Kentucky takes seriously. He is retiring from Congress, leaving behind excellent legislation that could claw back from the executive branch responsibilities the founders intended for the government’s first branch.

His Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act (REINS) would redress constitutional imbalance and buttress the rule of law by compelling Congress to take responsibility for the substance that executive rulemaking pours into the sometimes almost empty vessels that Congress calls “laws.”

The 165,000 pages of the Code of Federal Regulations contain tens of thousands of rules promulgated by largely unaccountable agencies that churn out more than a thousand new mandates a year. According to the Small Business Administration, regulations cost the economy about $1.75 trillion, almost twice the sum of income tax receipts. Davis says small businesses are spending $10,500 per employee on regulatory compliance. REINS would require Congress to vote on a resolution of approval concerning every “major” ($100 million economic impact) regulation. There are 212 such among the 4,128 regulations currently in the pipeline from unelected executive agencies. If the vote REINS requires did not occur within 70 days, the regulation would die.

John Marini of the University of Nevada-Reno writes in the Claremont Review of Books that the 2,500-page Obamacare legislation exemplifies current lawmaking, which serves principally to expand the administrative state’s unfettered discretion. Congress merely established the legal requirements necessary to create a vast executive branch administrative apparatus to formulate rules governing health care’s 18 percent of the economy.

The Hudson Institute’s Chris DeMuth, in an essay for National Affairs quarterly, notes that Congress often contents itself with enacting “velleities” such as the wish in the 900-page Dodd-Frank financial reform act that “all consumers have access to markets for consumer financial products and services … (that are) fair, transparent, and competitive.” How many legislators voting for the bill even read this language? And how many who did understood that they were authorizing federal rulemakers to micromanage overdraft fees? In Dodd-Frank, Obamacare and much else, the essential lawmaking is done off Capitol Hill by unaccountable bureaucratic rulemaking.

Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly and regulators, too, have a metabolic urge to do what they were created to do. Hence, DeMuth says, they often pursue their missions beyond the point of diminishing marginal returns with health, safety, environmental and other standards “with costs exceeding any plausible measure of their benefits.”

Regulatory power is executive power, which can be checked and balanced only by the other two branches. But, DeMuth notes, although courts can, under the Administrative Procedure Act, block regulations that are “arbitrary, capricious,” or “an abuse of discretion,” courts are usually deferential to regulators, partly because courts are usually without requisite scientific or other expertise.

What, then, about Congress, which, as DeMuth says, “has been deeply complicit in fostering regulatory power”? One proposal is to defer all new “major” regulations until unemployment falls to 7.7 percent, just below what it was when Barack Obama was inaugurated. But this would leave the regulatory state in place and poised for action on a backlog of major rules.

Another proposal is for a “regulatory budget” limiting the costs each regulatory agency could impose. But cost estimates would come from the executive branch, and therefore not be constraining. This defect also infects the proposal (from Virginia’s Democratic Sen. Mark Warner) for “regulatory pay-go,” under which agencies could issue new regulations only by rescinding existing rules that impose the same cost, or some fraction of the cost, of new ones. Indeed, any “enforceable” cost-benefit standard will merely empower executive agencies to enforce their preferences.

Hence the importance of Congress and the indispensability of Davis’ REINS Act. It passed the House last December. But the Democratic-controlled Senate, which will not even take responsibility for producing (as the law requires) a budget, has no desire to restrain the administrative state or to ratify what it does by approving, with statutes, major regulations.

Barack Obama says he would veto REINS. Mitt Romney says that with or without REINS, he would submit such regulations for congressional approval. Here, then, is the distilled essence of the 2012 choice:

Obama promises the progressive agenda — more executive aggrandizement, more marginalization of Congress, more latitude for unaccountable experts to supervise our lives, more regulatory suffocation of society. Romney promises the reverse.

georgewill@washpost.com.

Washington Post Writers Group

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/06/07/george-f-will-u-s-ponders-an-opportunity-to-put-curbs-on-the-regulatory-state/feed/0stdMitt Romney is welcomed at a campaign stop in TexasGOP faction ponders plan to go Full Nasty on Obamahttp://news.nationalpost.com/2012/05/17/gop-faction-ponders-plan-to-go-full-nasty-on-obama/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/05/17/gop-faction-ponders-plan-to-go-full-nasty-on-obama/#commentsThu, 17 May 2012 16:32:42 +0000http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/?p=78659

Here’s a good way for the Republicans to absolutely guarantee they lose the presidential election in November. Just implement this plan for a mammoth advertising blitz portraying Barack Obama as a Muslim socialist brainwashed by black radicals like Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Just to be sure, let everyone know it’s being financed by a billionaire white guy who made his money from Wall Street and looks like a caricature of the country club Republican. And then hire some token “extremely literate conservative African-American” to act as spokesman. Hey, I know … Herman Cain, the pizza guy! Wonder if his wife is talking to him yet?

The New York Times reports that “high-profile Republican strategists” are working with billionaire businessman Joe Ricketts on a plan to “mount one of the most provocative campaigns of the ‘super PAC’ era and attack President Obama in ways that Republicans have so far shied away from. “

Upset that neither John McCain, the 2008 nominee, nor Mitt Romney, the 2012 candidate, is willing to go for Obama’s jugular, Ricketts is financing the plan, which “includes preparations for how to respond to the charges of race-baiting it envisions if it highlights Mr. Obama’s former ties to Mr. Wright, who espouses what is known as ‘black liberation theology.’”

Oh yeah, this is a really great idea guys. Maybe the fact you already know you’ll be accused of race-baiting should be a hint that a little more thought is needed? Let’s see, if we suggest America needs another Bull Connor to keep uppity presidents like Obama in their place, would that be misinterpreted?

According to the report,

The strategists grappled with the quandary of running against Mr. Obama that other Republicans have cited this year: “How to inflame their questions on his character and competency, while allowing themselves to still somewhat ‘like’ the man becomes the challenge.”

Lamenting that voters “still aren’t ready to hate this president,” the document concludes that the campaign should “explain how forces out of Obama’s control, that shaped the man, have made him completely the wrong choice as president in these days and times.”

Right. More hate. That’s precisely what America needs in its campaigns.